Will health care fight hurt immigration and climate change bills? Depends on who you ask.

Depending on who you ask, the long, rancorous health care fight on Capitol Hill could threaten bipartisan work on immigration and climate change legislation — or give those issues a big boost.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Monday that Democrats’ decision to use the controversial budget reconciliation process to push health care changes through the Senate with a 51-vote simple majority could “make it very difficult to do anything complicated and controversial” in the coming months.

But other lawmakers are feeling more optimistic.

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said today that once the Senate wraps up final work on the health care package — possibly by the end of this week — that will liberate lawmakers to focus on other issues.

“We could be at a turning point because something as major as health care will have been behind us by the end of this week,” Casey said. “Having health care on the table so prominently prevented movement on a lot of things.”

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., has been working with Graham to write legislation that would make broad changes to the nation’s immigration laws. But some view that hot-button issue as even more emotional and politically treacherous than health care. And Graham has repeatedly warned that the reconciliation process could make an immigration overhaul impossible.